Instructions for Refilling Epson CX8400 Ink Cartridges

By Chris Moore

Overview

Epson's CX8400 model printer uses the 68 and 69 ink cartridges, which are among the newer cartridges that include a chip that records the number of pages printed (not ink used) and makes the cartridge stop working when it reaches its page limit. With this chip (and Epson's attempts to stop others from making compatible cartridges), trying to refill these cartridges can be a hassle. Because of this, you must somehow reset the chip along with refilling the cartridge for it to work in your Epson CX8400 printer.

Step 1

Remove the rubber stopper plugging the cartridge filler hole. This is the one of two holes that is near the flat tab sticking out of the side of the cartridge. The other is the air hole and should already be open if the cartridge was in the printer already.

Step 2

Fill your syringe bottle with the correct color ink for the cartridge (cartridges contain only one color ink each). You shouldn't need more than 5 ml, as the cartridges hold less than 8 and the chips go off before they're completely empty (see Resources below).

Step 3

Insert the needle into the fill hole and inject the ink into the cartridge. If you fill the cartridge without depressing the plunger, it will prevent the ink from spraying out. To do this, raise the plunger more to draw 5 cubic cm (ml) into the syringe. When you let go of the plunger, the ink should flow into the cartridge.

Step 4

Plug the filler hole back up with the same stopper. Plug the air hole as if it was open to avoid ink spilling out while it is still outside the printer.

Step 5

Reset the cartridge chip. You will need a seven-pin resetter to do this. Press the cartridge against the resetter so the resetter pins line up with the chip contacts. After 3 seconds, the resetter's green light should flash, indicating that the chip has been reset.

Step 6

Unplug the cartridge air hole (the hole you didn't fill the ink from) before inserting the cartridge back in the printer.

Skill: Moderate

Ingredients:

Replacement ink

Syringe bottle

Chip resetter

Tip: The resetter should work a thousand times and uses only small watch batteries.

Warning:

If you refill the cartridge before the chip goes off, it may very well go off shortly after you begin reusing the refilled cartridge. Be sure to reset the cartridge chip at that point.